Sales from Lads Chinese JV down 35%
'Lucky Racing' virtual racing game - set up following partnership with AGTech - has been rolled out in 1,700 shops in the Hunan province.
Ladbrokes’ AGT joint venture in China hit a rocky patch, with the virtual sports game ‘Lucky Racing’ generating CHY260m (£25.5m) in sales in the first quarter of 2012 – down 35% quarter-on-quarter.
Overall sales since the 30 August 2011 launch have risen to CHY760m (£74.6m), but the CHY260m is down significantly on the CHY400 figure recorded in the fourth quarter of 2011.
The product has been rolled out in 1,700 lottery shops in the country’s Hunan province, more than 1,400 of which are fully operational.
Ladbrokes CEO Richard Glynn considered the JV a long-term project when quizzed on the matter following the operator’s third-quarter results presentation last October.
After an initial trial period beginning last June, ‘Lucky Racing’ went live in August 2011. It marked the first release from the AGT joint venture – an agreement between Ladbrokes and Chinese firm AGTech – and was developed in association with OpenBet and Inspired Gaming.